Laser Technology Partnership Between U-M and German Institute

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The Fraunhofer Resource Center, located on the Engineering
Campus of the University of Michigan, is a newly organized affiliate of
the Fraunhofer Society, which encompasses a number of Institutes for Manufacturing
Technologies in Germany. The first component of the not-for-profit institute
will be a center for laser processing which will be similar to the internationally
recognized Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) in Aachen, Germany. The
inauguration of the Ann Arbor office brings to reality the vision of the
Fraunhofer Society and the College of Engineering to establish a center
that would serve the automotive industry and would also implement the
desire of Fraunhofer to expand its international operations. In addition,
it would fulfill a need of the College to educate engineers in emerging
technologies and to transfer the products of the associated research to
industry. The Center will combine the expertise and experience of the
Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen with the capabilities
of faculty and students of the College of Engineering to deploy laser
processing technology for industry. The motivation of the College of Engineering
to consider this partnership with the Fraunhofer Society, and finally,
to enter it, arose from two rather independent needs, which I will consider
separately below.

The primary function of the College of Engineering is, of
course, to educate engineers for the markets that will employ them. We
have long heard from the industries that employ our graduates that despite
an excellent education in the basics of engineering, the graduates lack
ability to apply this knowledge and are frequently ineffective team workers
when they begin their initial work assignment. We have, at Michigan, launched
several major initiatives to address these defects. We are currently examining
the entire undergraduate curriculum to identify extraneous material and
to indicate modified or new courses and sequences that would serve our
graduates better. We have also developed a new professional Masters of
Engineering degree intended to provide a rounding of the engineering education
to facilitate the transition from academia to the industrial work place.
Our Masters of Engineering in Manufacturing, for example, requires courses
in management taken at the Michigan Business School and also requires
a term project usually performed at an industrial site.

In the process of developing plans to address these needs,
we studied the response of our peer institutions; MIT, Stanford, Northwestern,
among other academic institutions, have taken innovative steps to better
prepare engineering graduates for industrial positions. We also studied
the German system and came to marvel, as most do, at the extraordinary
effectiveness of the Fraunhofer model, where students with the German
Diploma Engineer Degreemore or less equivalent to our Masters Degreework
in an applied technology institute for several years preparing themselves
for industrial employment.

This process is extremely effective and is somewhat analagous
to the clinical residency of medical school students that completes the
education of a medical doctor. We believe that, for a few of our students,
this model could work well, and we intend to use the Fraunhofer Resource
Center to implement a test program. Our faculty has recently approved
a Doctor of Engineering Degree which will facilitate the application of
the German model to our academic culture. But we intend, also, to engage
our traditional studentsboth undergraduate and graduatein the work of
the Center to provide an opportunity, for at least some of our students,
to gain experience in working in an industrial-like environment. We believe
that those students who are fortunate enough to participate in this program
and the industries that employ them will both benefit.

The second motivation to explore a Fraunhofer-like process
is to improve and expand the transfer of technology developed by our faculty
and graduate students to industry. We believe that our most effective
transfer of technology from the university to industry is through the
flow of our graduates from academia to the work place, but there is surely
additional value to be gained by the direct transfer of some of the technology
itself.

The Fraunhofer Resource Center will serve as an intermediate
stage between the rather basic research in which most of our faculty engage
and the needs of the industry. Moreover, the Center provides a venue for
the faculty to apply their basic technology to actual problems encountered
by industry. The co-location of a Fraunhofer Institute and a university,
and the participation of students and faculty in applied research, has
been shown in Germany to be an extremely effective way to facilitate the
transfer of technology from academia to industry. An important additional
fringe benefit is the creation of an increased awareness of the faculty
to the needs of industry and thus a greater likelihood of the pursuit
of relevant basic research.

The initiative has also driven increased levels of interaction
between the University of Michigan and industry, and between the U.S.
and other Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany.

Representatives of the Fraunhofer Society and the parent
Institute in Aachen are currently engaged with us in developing a detailed
agreement that will provide the basis for the operation of the partnership.
The formation of the Center was enabled by commitment of funds by the
Fraunhofer and the state of Michigan to capitalize and operate the Center
for its initial five years.

During the initial period, we expect to develop an industrial
project support base that will minimize or even eliminate the necessity
of subsidy. Already, local industry and our faculty are teaming with Fraunhofer
in proposals to federal agencies for technology development and deployment
in programs like the Department of Commerces Advanced Technology Program
(ATP).

The activities of the Center are guided by a Technical Advisory
Board which will meet regularly to advise the Director on technical matters.
The board membership is drawn from industry and the university. The interaction
with the university is coordinated by a faculty liaison, Professor Elijah
Kannety-Asibu. The Center Director reports jointly to the parent Center
Director in Aachen and to Fraunhofer-U.S.A., which is located in Ann Arbor.
Fraunhofer-U.S.A. is incorporated in the U.S. and governed by a Board
of Directors with German and U.S. representation. Fraunhofer-U.S.A. is
advised by a National Advisory Council of senior industry executives chaired
by Dr. John McTague, Vice President of Ford Motor Company. It is worth
noting that Fraunhofer-U.S.A. has several other initiatives in the U.S.,
in addition to the Laser Processing Center in Ann Arbor.

The partnership between the Fraunhofer and the University
of Michigan was initiated to serve U.S. industry through deployment and
support of laser processing technologies for manufacturing. The partnership
will succeed if, and only if, it serves the needs of private industry
effectively. We believe it can, and we are determined to work diligently
to achieve that objective.

George Carignan is Associate
Dean for Graduate Education and Research of the College of Engineering.
The following is adapted from a presentation to the Automotive Laser Applications
Workshop, given on March 9, 1995, in Dearborn, Michigan.